Unless you are an experienced boater who knows exactly what you want in a boat, and can afford to have one built to your specifications, then it is probably inevitable any boat you buy will end up not quite being how you would like. Having now had the QE2 for some time we now know what we would really like in a boat.

 

 
1. Gwyn would like a dinette so that all 4 of us could sit down to meal together.

2. I would love a solid fuel stove just for the ambience and a saloon area to sit and watch the telly.

3. The cross double bed is not in the best place as the galley is on one side of it and the toilet is on the other so you are constantly crawling over it if you need to make a cuppa or go to the loo when you are in bed.

4. The Shower is just too small to allow freedom of movement.

5. The vanity unit in the toilet leaves a little to be desired.

6. The internal water tank at 60galls is too small for 4 people. This was fitted by the previous owner as the original, integral tank had become rusty.

7. The fridge does not seem very efficient.

8. Running from 2 gas bottles means that a spare has to be carried on the cruiser stern.

 

There seems to be 2 options if we are to achieve this

 1. Buy or have built another boat which has all we want. This would not only be expensive but finding one that is just right would probably be a nightmare.

2. Alter the QE2 in an attempt to make it more how we want it. This would need to be done carefully so as not to make the boat unsaleable in the future. I have seen many boats on sale that have been designed specifically for the needs of their previous owners that just do not sell because they are not "standard".

I am told the original water tank, which will be at least 100galls can be brought back into use by scraping it inside and recoating.

 

This is how QE2 is at the moment

 

We think we would be able to fit a single dinette which converts to a bunk on each side of the boat just forward of the galley. We could do this by re-siting the Seating/double berth to the front at the opposite side and altering the unit next to the cooker to make it narrower. This is necessary to give us enough space to allow for a decent size bunk when the dinette is converted for sleeping.

 

This is how we envisage the alterations.

The 2 Single berths and the internal water tank will be removed from the front of the boat. As the Seating/double berth is shorter than the existing Single berths there will be room to fit a small Boatman solid fuel stove in the front of the boat. This will give us a saloon area and a stove. It will also help with the problem of not being able to get anywhere when the cross double is down as all the rest of the boat is off to one side.

 

 

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